Hi All
My sister-in-law recently brought her son out to Zimbabwe from England to show him the country where she was brought up. They were staying with me, so I decided to drive them up to Nyanga for a few nights. Springtime is the best time to visit the Eastern Highlands with the Msasa and Munondo trees showing off their vibrant red, ochre, and yellow leaves. I took the opportunity to take them up to World’s View where we were treated to a magnificent display of Protea flowers in full bloom.
They were staying at Troutbeck, so I drove down there from my cottage at Connemara to have a sundowner with them. Having grown up in England Joshua (28) has naturally spent some time in English Pubs so you would think he would know some of the old songs we used to sing? We were sitting by the fire in the Troutbeck when I told him about one Computer society conference, we had up there in the eighties. One of the participants started playing the piano and we all started singing along to crowd favourites – I “banged the drums” on the wood panelling alongside the piano. I was quite shocked when he told me that he had never even heard of “Show me the way to go home” – a song that we were all introduced to on our first night out at Varsity.
Back in the seventies, when we regularly found time to party, there was always an upright piano “Nailed to the Floor” in just about every Hotel, Pub or Sports club around. There was, of course, always someone in the crowd that could play a few tunes with all the late-night revellers insisting on singing their version of melodic rhythm. One of our regular joints at Varsity in Durban was the Honky Tonk Music played in the Cockney Pride Hotel at the beach end of West St. A Honky Tonk Piano is a “Modified piano that has been slightly detuned to give a bright, metallic and jangly sound” Pianists generally play fast songs like “Maybe it's because I’m a Londoner” to instantly put the crowd in a singing or dancing mood.
I played rugby for a navy club in Plymouth in the late 70s where, being near the Welsh border, everyone loved to sing. Straight after every game we would shower, then grab a Cornish Pasty and a pint of lager. It was never long before those navy boys launched into their pub songs. The one I remember most was “Be Kind to your web-footed friends” This can now be heard in a fun-filled children’s video that I will be showing my grandkids next time I see them.
In days gone by the Meikles and the Victoria Falls Hotels both used to have a regular pianist playing classy background music.
The Hyatt Regency Hotel still has a piano in the foyer that is seldom played – apparently because the sound doesn’t carry so well with tiled floors. Listen here to a clip we took at the Victoria Falls hotel a few years ago.
Modern day pubs now either have Karaoke or canned music – sadly no piano. Mike G